Clinical Observation Of Electroacupuncture Combined Moxibustion Therapy In The Treatment Of Perimenopausal Syndrome

Objective: This study was conducted to assess the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture combined moxibustion therapy in the treatment of perimenopausal syndrome patients. We also tried to analyze the underlying mechanism to provide basis for the clinical treatment of the disease.Methods: 60 menopausal syndrome patients were recruited and randomly assigned to the experiment group(electro acupuncture and moxibustion) and the control group(electro acupuncture). For the control group, we worked on the Guanyuan, Sanyinjiao, Zigong and Tianshu. Among the mentioned acupoints, Zigong was not manipulated, the other ones were perpendicularly twirling, lifting and thrusting until patients had a sense of soreness. we linked the needle on Tianshu and Zigong to the electric acupuncture.For the treatment group, the treated acupoints are the same with the control group, besides, put the heating moxibustion box above Guanyuan and fixed the moxa 3cm to Sanyinjiao. The electroacupuncture lasted for 20 minutes. In both treatment groups, the acupuncture was kept for 30 minutes. Patients received the treatment twice a week in 8 consecutive weeks. After the treatment, we evaluate the overall treatment effect and measure the changes of MRS,FSH and LH.Results:1. Clinical efficacy: Out of the 30 patients in the treatment group, 7 cases were highly effective, 19 cases were marginally effective and 4 cases were not effective, the overall effective rate was 86.67%. In the control group, 4 cases were highly effective, 20 cases were marginally effective and 6 cases were not effective, the overall effective rate was 80%.2. Before the intervention, the MRS in the two groups were not statistically significant(P>0.05). After the treatment, the scores decreased in both groups(P<0.05), and the decreasing is more significant in the treatment group(the difference is statistically significant,(P<0.05).The decreasing ofhot flashes sweating and sleep problems scores on MRS are more significant in the treatment group( P<0.05).3. Before the intervention, the level of FSH and LH in serum were not statistically different(P>0.05) between the two groups. After the treatment, there was no significant change of the FSH level(P>0.05) in the two study groups. The results showed that FSH level is not affected by the treatment. For the LH level, there were significant difference(P<0.05) in the treatment group before and after the intervention, however, this difference was not significant in the control group.4. Safety observation: No patients dropped the treatment due to adverse reactions and pain of the acupuncture. No case of skin allergy, infection, syncope and broken needles were found during the study.Conclusion: Compared with the control group, the treatment group were effective in the treatment of perimenopausal syndrome. The total effective rate of the treatment group was higher than that of the control group. The effect of the treatment group was better in reducing the MRS scale score. For the serum sex hormone, neither the method in the treatment group nor control group can significantly change the patient's FSH level. The LH value decreased in the treatment group after the intervention, while the change of LH value in the control group was not significant. We conclude that the electroacupuncture combined with moxibustion is effective for the treatment of peri menopausal syndrome, and is suggested to be used as the preferred scheme.